TY - JOUR
T1 - Balancing Cultures at the American University of Kuwait
AU - Kelly, Marjorie
N1 - Funding Information:
The Board of Trustees meets twice a year on the AUK campus. Comprised of fifteen members (including AUK’s president), the trustees are largely Kuwaitis and Americans with backgrounds in education, although not always higher education. Their collective role has been described as being more advisory in nature than governance. The real power lies with the three members of the Board’s Executive Committee. They are also the three investors who established AUK as a for-profit venture, operated by the United Education Company (a privately held concern owned by the co-founders). The company, in turn, is part of the Kuwait Projects Company or KIPCO, Kuwait’s largest investment company.11 AUK publications usually refer to KIPCO as the university’s sister holding company. However, the university’s budget is dependent on the funds generated by student tuition and fees, and such has been the case since the second or third year of AUK’s existence. By its third year, AUK was generating a profit. Capital projects are funded by the investors. Therefore, contrary to most private universities in the US, AUK’s president is not expected to fundraise. However, he is expected to keep an eye on expenses and stay within the budget. For all its profitability, the AUK campus is not luxurious nor are facilities ostentatious. In fact, it most closely resembles a California community college with concrete buildings surrounding open courtyards.
Funding Information:
As stated previously, with a heavy teaching load and frequent overloads, faculty have little time or energy for much beyond teaching. Working without sabbaticals or release time, the ability to focus on research projects and publications is made all the harder. The ability to conduct research locally in one’s spare time depends of course on one’s discipline, but it also depends on how conducive the environment is for doing research. Kuwait is not a likely research site because it is a closed society where people are very adept at impression management; and access to accurate, verifiable data can be hard to come by. In addition, outside sources for funding are limited in the extreme; virtually nothing exists that is comparable to the private foundations or government programs found in the US despite Kuwait’s great wealth. Indeed, when the Private Universities Council announced a funding opportunity several years ago, AUK faculty wrote more proposals and were awarded more grants than any other institution in the country. But the grants were never funded and the exercise was largely a futile effort. It might be noted in passing that PUC “funding” was contingent upon the participation of Kuwaiti citizens in the project as researchers.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2011, Copyright Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.
PY - 2011/12/1
Y1 - 2011/12/1
N2 - The large numbers of Western educational institutions that have recently opened in the Arabian Gulf are largely transplants from abroad. The American University of Kuwait (AUK) is unique in that it is a locally owned, for-profit liberal arts institution, operating under Kuwaiti laws and regulations. The educational, cultural and administrative structure, methods and standards, however, are explicitly based on the American model of higher learning. American expectations and Kuwaiti realities are examined in the areas of governance, finance, research opportunities and academic standards. Only seven years old, AUK is still a work in progress as it seeks international accreditation while being subject to close government supervision.
AB - The large numbers of Western educational institutions that have recently opened in the Arabian Gulf are largely transplants from abroad. The American University of Kuwait (AUK) is unique in that it is a locally owned, for-profit liberal arts institution, operating under Kuwaiti laws and regulations. The educational, cultural and administrative structure, methods and standards, however, are explicitly based on the American model of higher learning. American expectations and Kuwaiti realities are examined in the areas of governance, finance, research opportunities and academic standards. Only seven years old, AUK is still a work in progress as it seeks international accreditation while being subject to close government supervision.
KW - American University of Kuwait
KW - Gulf
KW - higher education
KW - Kuwait
KW - universities
UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/84927176579
U2 - 10.1080/21534764.2011.630893
DO - 10.1080/21534764.2011.630893
M3 - Article
SN - 2153-4780
VL - 1
SP - 201
EP - 229
JO - Journal of Arabian Studies
JF - Journal of Arabian Studies
IS - 2
ER -